looneytunesfandomcom-20200223-history
Sunset Productions
Sunset Productions was a television syndication division of Guild Films which existed in the 1950s and early 1960s. Overview Sunset Productions is best known as the company identified in the copyright notice on a package of black-and-white Warner Bros. cartoons distributed in television syndication beginning in 1955. Sunset was owned by Guild. This package consisted of the black-and-white Looney Tunes, plus all black-and-white Merrie Melodies after the Harman-Ising era, 191 cartoons in all. The remaining pre-August 1948The latest released WB cartoon sold to a.a.p. was Haredevil Hare, released on July 24, 1948. cartoons (which included all color releases from that period, plus the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies minus Lady, Play Your Mandolin!) were sold to Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) in 1956. New opening and closing titles were made to remove any references to the original studio because at the time, Warner Bros. did not want to be associated with the television syndication of their back catalog until 1967. Any Warner Bros. references in the cartoons themselves were also removed - such as in "Porky in Wackyland", where Yoyo Dodo zooms up with the WB shield to hit Porky Pig with a slingshot, then zooms back out. The Leon Schlesinger Productions building sign from the start of "You Ought to Be in Pictures" and the ending gag from "Porky's Duck Hunt" are cut from these television prints for the same reason. A peculiar error is consistently seen on the copyright notices on Sunset Productions title cards, in which the copyright date is incorrectly rendered in Roman numerals as "MXM..." rather than the correct "MCM..." (i.e. MXMXLI for 1941). The actual distribution was handled by Guild Films, the owner of Sunset. Seven Arts Productions bought Guild, upon Guild filing bankruptcy in 1961, acquiring their assets. In 1967, Seven Arts bought Warner Bros. and became Warner Bros.-Seven Arts; by this point, WB-7A regained the copyrights to these cartoons. In 1969, Kinney National Company bought WB-7A, and in 1970, the Seven Arts reference was dropped from the company by Kinney. Soon after the WB-7A merger was complete, the studio had 79 of these black-and-white cartoons redrawn in color due to the increased demand for color cartoons by television stations; these colorizations, produced in South Korea by Fred Ladd, have often been criticized for their inferiority to the original animation. In some cases, the Sunset/Guild TV prints were also used as the source material, resulting in their titles being redrawn in color. The same 79 cartoons were colorized again in the early 1990s (along with 23 other cartoons not redrawn in 1968), this time using a computer to add color to the cartoons, thus preserving the original animation, but still the cartoons were shown in a way they were not meant to be seen (the end result was very close to the color Merrie Melodies that had been released around the same time; in essence, the cartoons sold to a.a.p.). Unlike the retraced colorizations that preceded them, however, the Sunset/Guild TV prints were not utilized here. Some of the computer-colorized versions (of 1937-43 cartoons) mistakenly use the 1936-37 Looney Tunes theme (also known as the "Porky Signature") instead of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" (possibly due to an oversight). The pre-1948 cartoons would reunite with the post-1948 and Sunset cartoons when Time Warner merged with Turner Entertainment, which by then owned the a.a.p. package. Today, when using the terms "pre-August 1948" and "post-July 1948"The earliest-released color cartoon to have been retained by Warner Bros. over the years is You Were Never Duckier, released on August 1, 1948. to describe the television packages of Warner Bros. cartoons, the former is usually used exclusively to refer to those cartoons in the a.a.p. package, and not including the cartoons sold to Sunset Productions. List of cartoons in the "Sunset Productions" package :Note: All cartoons are Looney Tunes except where noted. Titles in boldface are available on DVD as part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. :Note: All cartoons released in 1930 and 1931 are in the public domain. For all other years, PD cartoons will be marked with an asterisk. 1930 *''The Booze Hangs High'' *''Box Car Blues'' *''Congo Jazz'' *''Hold Anything'' *''Sinkin' in the Bathtub'' 1931 *''Ain't Nature Grand!'' *''Big Man from the North'' *''Bosko Shipwrecked!'' *''Bosko the Doughboy'' *''Bosko's Fox Hunt'' *''Bosko's Holiday'' *''Bosko's Soda Fountain'' *''Dumb Patrol'' *''Lady, Play Your Mandolin!'' (MM) *''The Tree's Knees'' *''Ups 'n Downs'' *''Yodeling Yokels'' 1932 *''Battling Bosko* *Big-Hearted Bosko* *Bosko and Bruno* *Bosko at the Beach* *Bosko at the Zoo* *Bosko the Drawback'' *''Bosko the Lumberjack* *Bosko's Dizzy Date'' *''Bosko's Dog Race* *Bosko's Party* *Bosko's Store* *Bosko's Woodland Daze'' *''Ride Him, Bosko!'' 1933 *''Beau Bosko'' *''Bosko in Dutch'' *''Bosko in Person'' *''Bosko the Musketeer'' *''Bosko the Sheep-Herder'' *''Bosko the Speed King'' *''Bosko's Knight-Mare'' *''Bosko's Mechanical Man'' *''Bosko's Picture Show'' *''Buddy's Beer Garden'' *''Buddy's Day Out'' *''Buddy's Show Boat'' *''I've Got to Sing a Torch Song'' (MM) *''Sittin' on a Backyard Fence'' (MM) 1934 *''Buddy and Towser'' *''Buddy of the Apes'' *''Buddy the Dentist'' *''Buddy the Detective'' *''Buddy the Gob'' *''Buddy the Woodsman'' *''Buddy's Adventures'' *''Buddy's Bearcats'' *''Buddy's Circus'' *''Buddy's Garage'' *''Buddy's Trolley Troubles'' *''The Girl at the Ironing Board'' (MM) *''Goin' to Heaven on a Mule'' (MM) *''How Do I Know It's Sunday'' (MM) *''The Miller's Daughter'' (MM) *''Pettin' in the Park'' (MM) *''Rhythm in the Bow'' (MM) *''Shake Your Powder Puff'' (MM) *''Those Were Wonderful Days'' (MM) *''Viva Buddy'' *''Why Do I Dream Those Dreams'' (MM) 1935 *''Buddy in Africa'' *''Buddy of the Legion'' *''Buddy Steps Out'' *''Buddy the Gee Man'' *''Buddy's Bug Hunt'' *''Buddy's Lost World'' *''Buddy's Pony Express'' *''Buddy's Theatre'' *''A Cartoonist's Nightmare'' *''The Fire Alarm'' *''Gold Diggers of '49Has only computer-colorized version *Hollywood Capers* 1936 *Alpine Antics'' *''The Blow Out'' *''Boom Boom* *Fish TalesHas redrawn and computer-colorized versions *Little Beau Porky'' *''Milk and Money'' *''The Phantom Ship'' *''Plane Dippy'' *''Porky in the North Woods'' *''Porky the Rain-Maker'' *''Porky's Moving Day'' *''Porky's Pet'' *''Porky's Poultry Plant'' *''Shanghaied Shipmates'' *''The Village Smithy'' *''Westward Whoa* 1937 *The Case of the Stuttering Pig'' *''Get Rich Quick Porky* *Picador Porky'' *''Porky and Gabby'' *''Porky the Wrestler'' *''Porky's Badtime Story'' *''Porky's Building'' *''Porky's Double Trouble'' *''Porky's Duck Hunt'' *''Porky's Garden* *Porky's Hero Agency'' *''Porky's Railroad* *Porky's Road Race'' *''Porky's Romance'' *''Porky's Super Service'' *''Rover's Rival'' 1938 *''The Daffy Doc'' *''Injun Trouble'' *''Porky & Daffy'' *''Porky at the Crocadero'' *''Porky in Egypt'' *''Porky in Wackyland'' *''Porky the Fireman'' *''Porky the Gob'' *''Porky's Five & Ten'' *''Porky's Hare Hunt'' *''Porky's Naughty Nephew'' *''Porky's Party'' *''Porky's Phoney Express'' *''Porky's Poppa'' *''Porky's Spring Planting'' *''What Price Porky'' *''Wholly Smoke'' 1939 *''Chicken Jitters'' *''The Film Fan'' *''It's an Ill Wind'' *''Jeepers Creepers'' *''Kristopher Kolombus Jr.'' *''The Lone Stranger and Porky'' *''Naughty Neighbors'' *''Pied Piper Porky'' *''Polar Pals'' *''Porky and Teabiscuit'' *''Porky the Giant Killer'' *''Porky's Hotel'' *''Porky's Movie Mystery'' *''Porky's Picnic'' *''Porky's Tire Trouble'' *''Scalp Trouble'' *''Wise Quacks'' 1940 *''Africa Squeaks'' *''Ali-Baba Bound* *Calling Dr. Porky'' *''The Chewin' Bruin'' *''Patient Porky'' *''Pilgrim Porky'' *''Porky's Baseball Broadcast'' *''Porky's Hired Hand* *Porky's Last Stand'' *''Porky's Poor Fish'' *''Prehistoric Porky'' *''Slap Happy Pappy'' *''The Sour Puss'' *''The Timid Toreador* *You Ought to Be in Pictures'' 1941 *''A Coy Decoy* *The Haunted Mouse* *The Henpecked Duck* *Joe Glow, the Firefly* *Meet John Doughboy* *Notes to You* *Porky's Ant* *Porky's Bear Facts* *Porky's Midnight Matinee* *Porky's Pooch* *Porky's Preview* *Porky's Prize Pony* *Porky's Snooze Reel'' *''Robinson Crusoe Jr.* *We, the Animals - Squeak!* 1942 *The Daffy Duckaroo* *Daffy's Southern Exposure* *The Ducktators* *Eatin' on the Cuff or The Moth Who Came to Dinner* *Gopher Goofy* *Hobby Horse-Laffs* *The Impatient Patient* *Nutty News'' *''Porky's Cafe* *Porky's Pastry Pirates* *Saps in Chaps* *Wacky Blackout'' *''Who's Who in the Zoo* 1943 *Confusions of a Nutzy Spy* *Hop and Go* *Porky Pig's Feat* *Puss n' Booty'' *''Scrap Happy Daffy* *Tokio Jokio* References See also *Looney Tunes'' *''Merrie Melodies'' *Warner Bros. Cartoons *Associated Artists Productions Sources/External links *Sunset Productions and Guild Films Category:Companies